🔍Overview

By: Leo & Kate

Starknet is a Layer 2 ZK-Rollup built on Ethereum, using STARK proofs to enable scalable, low-cost, and secure smart contract execution. Developed by StarkWare, it executes transactions off-chain via a sequencer, which produces a proof verified on Ethereum for finality. Starknet contracts are written in Cairo, a language purpose-built for STARK-based computation. The network operates through custom full nodes like Pathfinder, a Rust-based client that supports RPC access, state diffs, and detailed Cairo VM execution traces.

To support high-performance data indexing and streaming, Starknet integrates with Firehose, a gRPC-based blockchain data pipeline developed by StreamingFast. Firehose captures deterministic block data, Cairo VM steps, and L2-specific state updates, enabling real-time analytics and verifiable indexing with frameworks like Substreams or The Graph. This architecture empowers developers to build scalable, trustless data services on top of Starknet’s advanced ZK-rollup infrastructure. You'll find node guides below for:

• Pathfinder

• Juno

• Madara

With additional instructions for

• Substreams to Graph Node

• JSON RPC to Firestark